Category: Flight Training

It has been just under seven months since I have flown the twin engine. My last flight I logged was my multi-engine commercial check ride. Today broke that streak with a quick flight in preparation for my MEI(Multi-engine instructor). This is an add-on to my current flight instructor certificate and is my next step in training.

It was nice to be back in the plane. It is most definitely the airplane that I love to fly the best. The avionics suite in the aircraft is on another level in comparison to the rest of our fleet. Add to that the stability of a heavier, faster aircraft and you have a very fun airplane to fly.

Even after all this time out of the aircraft, today’s flight went rather well considering. We ran through almost all of the PTS items for the MEI checkride. I felt pretty good about most of it, and I think I’ll be able to wrap this up in a few hours of flight time.

My landings were of a minor concern to me. I felt like I was fighting with the aircraft and that doesn’t normally produce smooth landings. The first few touch and goes we did were quite disconcerting to me. My very last landing was finally back within my personal tolerance for a ‘good’ landing.

I’m excited to get another rating under my belt, and start instructing multi-engine students!

Well I haven’t killed anyone yet! I’d say it’s going good.

After just a little over a week of instructing, I’m still here! Things have been going so fast, and that’s ok. I’ve been flying almost every day, and around 3-5 hours a day. Filling that logbook up pretty quick!

My first two students have been progressing pretty well. Even as I’m teaching them, I’m learning so much about how to be a better teacher. I’m finding out what works, and what doesn’t. I have to tailor the way I explain things to each student. It’s pretty much the coolest thing I’ve ever done. From the first day until now, I’ve seen so much progress. It’s amazing to watch them progress, and see the ‘light’ click on.

It’s completely true that your student strives to be just like you, and they emulate everything you do. I will see them do things, or say things, and I laugh to myself. Because I know they got it from me! It’s crazy!

I’m having so much fun flying with these guys, and they’re probably teaching me just as much as I’m teaching them. If you’re reading this, you guys should be studying! 🙂

A few of the instructors and I got a call yesterday about a meeting. We were all a little nervous about what we were being called in there for. When we got in there, they had some student logbooks laid out on the conference table. We all looked at each other with pretty big smiles!

They have just received another group of Irish students, with not enough instructors to fill their schedule. The assigned each of us two new students! We’re not even done with standardization yet! We got a small crash course in how to do paperwork, and managing the students school logbook.

Today I went flying with my two brand new students. It was my first logged hours of ‘dual given’. First of many I’m sure in my career of aviation. It was pretty exciting to be the instructor finally.

So it’s officially official! I’m a flight instructor!

/phew

Standardization is almost complete. I have completed three flights, and a simulator lesson. These were basically evaluation lessons, but the aim was more how I teach the subject material. They want to make sure I’m teaching it the way everyone else is, to provide consistent training. You learn that some have different opinions about different subjects, but overall it’s been a learning experience.

I’ve come to the point where I have to accept that I’ll never be perfect. I was having issues with a maneuver for quite some time. It’s something I’ve been doing since day one here, and I wasn’t quite getting it right. It was very frustrating to struggle with something so basic, but it was a reality check for me. I put in some time in the plane flying solo, and the next flight I had I redid the maneuver and it worked out much better.

The past few weeks have been some firsts for me. I’ve been able to sign some logbooks recently. Some friends have needed some help with simulator stuff and I was able to sign off on their time in there as a CFII. It was a pretty cool thing for me to be able to do that for them. This week I signed one of the standardization pilots logbook who has nearly 12,000 hours! I have 300! I thought that was pretty cool. It shows what a tight community aviation is. My name will always be in his logbook, as well as my friends. In 20 years when we’re working for different airlines, I can brag that I signed his logbook first!

I’m getting pretty excited to start taking on students. I’ve been in training mode for nearly a year and a half. Although I’ll be training people, and still technically be in training mode for the rest of my career, this is a big step for me. I’m going to put to use all this stuff that I’ve learned. To see skills be put to use, and knowledge lent to another person, will be a new experience.

I keep thinking of when I first started my flight training. How much I looked up to, and wanted to be like, my flight instructor. Someone is going to look to me for all the answers, and is going to trust me with their life. I’m looking forward to the challenge, and hope I can handle the responsibility.

I’m currently doing what is called ‘Standardization’. This is what FlightSafety puts their new hire CFIs through to ensure that everyone teaches they way FlightSafety wants them to. It’s a few weeks long, and covers all aspects of my job as an instructor here.

Today I had a flight to ensure that my flying and teaching are up to par with what they’re looking for. This was my first time I ever flew an airplane, and got paid for it. Even though the flight itself wasn’t as good as I knew it could have been, it’s still a pretty good feeling. It has been a long time coming, but I’m finally getting paid to do what I love.